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Anyhow, I love ballet flats. A thousand years ago when I was delivering supplies to a law office, I saw that the clerk who signed for the delivery was wearing Isotoner spandex ballet slippers in the office. It changed my world - she looked so comfortable, standing and walking around the office all day long in something that gently massaged her feet instead of boxing them up in the horrible painful dress shoes I was obligated to wear.

Obviously I couldn't wear them for my delivery job, but they became my footwear of choice at home. But they were also insanely expensive, so I didn't really become a full-time ballet slipper wearer until the Isotoner patent ran out and cheap Chinese knockoffs were available at Walmart. Now I'm semiretired and what work I do is at home, so I live in those cheap spandex ballet slippers just about every waking moment.

Bear with me, this story has a point... I'm just building dramatic tension. The thing is, those cheap spandex slippers weren't really built to be worn upwards of 18 hours a day. Especially since the largest size is really too small for my size-10 Yeti feet, stretching them (the slippers, not my feet) to the breaking point.

Then while I was out Christmas shopping I saw some soft leather ballet flats in the clearance bin at Walmart. I've been thinking of trying them for a while now, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $40 or more on shoes. These were only $10, and they had them in size 11 Wide. I figured, size 11 might be a bit loose on me (remember, size 10) but that's better than being too tight.

By now those of you familiar with women's shoe sizing are laughing hysterically at my belief that a size 11 women's would be larger than a size 10 men's. NO, not even with the wider model. The reinforced seam at the toe opening crosses exactly over the arthritic knuckle in my right big toe. I was all set to throw them out when I realized that even though they're leather, they still have a bit of stretch to them. I hunted all over for something roughly the size of my foot I could use as a shoe stretcher without actually spending money on one, and found... tennis balls are perfect. Rigid enough to stretch the toe opening but soft enough not to risk tearing the leather.

A weekend with my tennis ball shoe stretcher solved that problem nicely. Now they fit very comfortably, although I'll probably need to keep the tennis balls in place whenever I'm not wearing the shoes so they won't shrink back to their original size.

Hey Ralph! Another lover of ballet flats here. I am in a group on Facebook for my favorite flats--Tieks--an absurdly expensive, but insanely comfortable brand of ballet flats that goes up to size 13. Because the flats only come in full sizes, there is a lot of discussion in the group about how to make them fit (usually people trying to stretch a full size up to the next half size.) There are some disastrous attempts, such as wetting the shoes and stuffing with newspapers. On the other hand, using a golfball to expand the toe box is a favorite, and works really well, similar to your tennis ball effort. Wearing thick socks and wearing them around the house is another favorite. The aforementioned alcohol trick is also a good one that I use on my cowboy boots. Cover the inside leather with the alcohol--isopropyl is the best.